Photo For a Friend
by Steele Rose
Summary: Mezato tries something a little out of her league, and reconsiders her relationship with the biggest scoop.


Mezato couldn't believe herself. She was sitting in her room wearing no pants with a camera lying still between her feet on the ground. It was nearly midnight, and she made sure nobody else in the house was still awake.

What was she doing?

She could only vaguely remember how excited she had been earlier that day when what seemed to be such a fantastic idea came to her head. Now here she was, no pants, embarrassed in front of nobody. All of her lights were on so the camera could take a clear picture, but that didn't help her dignity any. She'd been sitting there against her bed staring at her camera for almost thirty minutes, thinking to herself. She wanted to bribe Mob using a picture like this to force him to check out the Psycho Helmet Cult. It was definitely her most underhanded trick yet, but the school year was ending and she was running out of time.

 _It's just Mob-kun_. She kept telling herself. Of course, that didn't make it any easier so she tried telling herself some other things.

 _At least my panties are still on._

 _My face isn't actually in the picture._

 _I'm sure we'll both forget about it by next week._

 _He'll have to listen to me after this._

Somehow she just kept feeling even worse. She thought she wasn't above anything for the sake of a scoop. If it was for the sake of investigative journalism, she believed she was unbeatable, but now she was having second thoughts. Maybe there was a better way to do things. But then again, every other nefarious deed she tried failed, and ended badly for Mob-kun. Still, she didn't have to go this low, did she? But she was really running out of ideas, and time was running out.

 _But this is such a failsafe idea._

Mezato inhaled deeply and expanded her courage.

"Alright, here we go." She said to nobody in particular.

She spread her legs just a little bit and snapped a photo.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

Mezato couldn't believe what she just did. She also just screamed at the top of her lungs in the dead of night for no reason, but she was more concerned with the picture she just took.

She could faintly hear footsteps outside her door, so she hurriedly climbed into bed and opened the window.

"Ichi!? What happened!?" Both of her parents slammed the door open.

Mezato stuttered, still feeling embarrassed, though for a reason different from what her parents thought. "O-oh. Th-there was a b-big, um, muh, moth. A big moth on my bed and I shooed it out."

Her parents both gave exasperated sighs. "Ichi, you scared the hell out of us. It was just a moth," Her mother explained. "You're already 14. You can do better than that."

Mezato sank deeper into her covers. "Y-yeah. I know. Sorry."

Her father shook his head and went back. "Good night," Her mother said as she closed the door. "My goodness."

Mezato turned around and dug her face into her pillow.

Is she an idiot!? She sat on the floor with a camera facing her snatch for thirty minutes only for _that_ to happen!? She was absolutely mortified, yet nobody actually knew what she had done yet! Now she had to muster up the courage to bribe Mob-kun with this! If she was embarrassed now, how could she expect herself to present this… non-accident to Mob-kun!?

Now she was having third thoughts. Maybe she could have taken pictures of Takane Tsubomi, or she could have tried talking to the Body Improvement Club, or maybe even try and get his parents to like her.

And now here she was with an awful picture of her (lower) self in her camera. She could still delete it, but she had already sat on the floor for a half hour doing nothing and then embarrassed herself in front of her parents who were scared out of their minds.

Quickly, Mezato turned off the lights and hid under her covers.

* * *

She still had it.

She stared at her camera all morning, but never turned it on. She'd almost absentmindedly walked onto a busy street staring at it, which was also embarrassing, and dangerous. Now she was entering school grounds like any normal school day. The camera hanging from her neck was usually something that made her feel comfortable, but today it was the exact opposite.

"Good morning, Mezato-san!"

The addressed nearly jumped out of her skin. "Oh, um. Good morning, Mob-kun." It was the last person she wanted to see. Literally. Showing Mob the picture was actually the last thing she wanted to do before leaving school.

The esper picked up his pace to catch up to her.

"The school year is coming to an end soon." Mob began. He seemed much more upbeat than his usual dull self.

"Huh. You're right."

"We won't be able to fool around like we always do."

"Uh huh."

Mob stayed silent for a moment and stared up at the sky. Mezato looked over at him. He had changed since they first met. It's almost like he had gotten much older, even though he looked the same. The way he spoke, the way he approached things, and the way he responded to things made him look like a completely different person than the unassuming background kid at the beginning of the school year. Mob used to be so indifferent to everything, like the time he stood her up for an interview to fight that esper from Black Vinegar Mid, or when he decided to agree to run for Student Council President after some cheap persuasion.

Speaking of that, she was still mad. She stayed up until midnight writing that stupid speech for him.

His appearance, or at least the atmosphere he evoked was different now too. Now, his pupils looked like tunnels to the secrets of the earth. It almost felt like he had actually discovered the earth's secrets and has been spending all of his time trying to interpret their meaning. Maybe his fight with the evil organization had hardened him up some. Still, he was a bit more emotive now, and was a little more responsive when she talked to him.

It was actually kind of cute.

Mezato silently wondered how his body improvement was working for him.

"I think today might be the day." Mob finally said.

Mezato caught herself staring and shook her head to clear her thoughts. "Oh. Um, what do you mean?"

"Next year is no good. This is probably my last chance to finally confess to Tsubomi-chan."

"Oh, I see." Mezato stared down at the ground. Then she blinked and quickly turned back to him. "Eh!? T-today!?"

"There will be no time to do it next year, since we'll be focusing on entrance exams. If I don't confess now, I'll never get the chance." He seemed very determined to do this.

Mezato found herself panicking. Once that happens, she'll have no more fuel to convince Mob to do her bidding.

Wait, the school year is ending anyway, and she already had a foolproof plan saved for later.

She tried to calm herself down, but for some reason she still felt really bothered. It must have been the stupid plan she had.

"Are you sure about this? I don't think you're ready." She said.

Mob glanced back at her, a hint of panic in his eyes. "So I truly am not ready? I had a feeling," He sighed. "Still, I don't have much of a choice."

The reporter girl scoffed. "Maybe if you show her your power, Takane-san might actually give you her atten-" Mezato's voice died down as she realized Mob's face intensifying. She'd never seen that before. Actually she has, but that was from his younger brother when she had tried to interview him.

"My powers don't make me special, Mezato-san. Tsubomi-chan taught me that when we were younger." That's weird. She's said the same thing or something similar before, but this is the first time he reacted the way he did. They were approaching the school, but they were still in the same class. Mezato felt like she had just stepped into unsurvivable territory and wanted to leave him, but she probably couldn't.

Time for the usual damage control. Every investigative reporter goes through this. "Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean-"

"Mezato-san." Her name in his voice was firm, and effectively alarming. It made the hairs on her back straighten. "I've been wondering for a long time whether or not you are really my friend. If you never saw my powers at Dimple's old cult, would you have ever talked to me?"

The girl stops for a moment. Has Mob really been so confused as to what their relationship was? She had always considered the two of them friends. Sure, they never hung out after class, and _maybe_ she only sought after him when she wanted him to do something. But she still genuinely enjoyed being around him, and she has no problem having lunch with him sometimes.

But then, again, Mob _was_ very much part of the background. And if it weren't for that fateful encounter at (LOL), she would probably never even have begun speaking to him (and also, she'd be a smiling cultist).

Mob noticed how deeply Mezato was thinking and decided to cut her off. Her hesitance to answer his question was enough for him. "Let's hurry to class."

The news girl's thought process broke and she looked at Mob. "Oh, um, right."

* * *

As she expected, she couldn't concentrate on class today. She would find herself lost in her thoughts surrounding Mob's honest question and the picture she had taken the night before.

The girl let out a breath and decided to space out, holding her head in her hand, an elbow propping it up like a stanchion. In her field of view was Mob, and also Inugawa, but she decided to focus on the one she actually talked to.

Like she had already noticed, Mob looked a lot different from when they first met, even if it wasn't immediately obvious. His hair wasn't nearly as perfectly round and even as it was before, his eyes were a little more focused than before, when he always looked sleepy. Even his physical stature changed. His shoulders were a little more raised (but maybe they just became broader like a normal growing teenager's), his arms looked a little bigger, his neck seemed much more defined. Mezato silently wondered how toned his arms might look under her sleeves.

She caught herself again and nearly slammed her head onto her desk.

Then, lunch break began, and everybody around her started to disperse or move place.

She felt someone poke her shoulder.

"Hey."

Mezato tiredly turned her head to face the person behind her.

"What is it, Ibata?"

Ibata was a boy in the newspaper club who was painfully obsessed with getting his work done. As such, his stories were always lackluster and uninteresting, which usually gave way to Mezato's own shining tales of adventure. Still, he often berated her for having no stories for possibly three weeks.

Like everybody else in the newspaper club, he had no knowledge of the intensity of her involvement with Mob. If anyone else were to see, they'd think she were obsessed.

Mob doesn't keep evil spirits that she can't see around with him, right?

The boy adjusted his glasses, which along with his short buzz cut made way for some glare. He was tall for his age, but very scrawny. His friends who were taller than him probably found his shiny head to be a nuisance.

"You were staring at Mob-er, Kageyama-kun that entire time."

"Just call him Mob." Mezato cut in.

Ibata blinked. "Um, sure. Anyway, don't think I haven't noticed. Mob-kun being an esper is slowly becoming common knowledge in our class. I know you've swarmed him since the start of the year because he's interesting, but I've never seen you stare at him so intently in class."

She blushed. She had a feeling she knew where this was going. "What about it?"

"You've been talking to him much more recently. Maybe you like him?"

Mezato reddened even more and looked to the side.

"Ah!"

The two of them looked to where the sound had come from. Inugawa had just gasped from where he was sitting across from Mob. He must have been paying attention to their conversation.

This only made her more embarrassed.

Ibata paid him no mind and turned back to his fellow journalist. "So you do?"

"I don't!" She yelled, which only attracted even more attention, including Mob's. Sensing this, she leaned in closer to Ibata. "And shut up! I don't need any rumors surrounding me."

Ibata leaned backward and put an arm over the chair's back, smirking. "Rumors are okay when it's anyone else, but when it's you everybody has to shut up?"

Mezato blinked at this. She was entirely aware of how nosy and intrusive she was, but she never found herself on the receiving end. And that isn't even what's happening yet. "Sorry."

The bespectacled kid chuckled and gave his lunch its needed attention. "I won't pry, but the year is ending. If you ask me, maybe you should talk to Mob a little more to see what it might be like. If you don't he just might get with Takane-san."

Ibata chuckled again. Both of them knew that wasn't going to happen, and Mezato almost laughed along with him, but she decided to keep a neutral expression. "It isn't what you think," She paused for a moment, making something up. "Something big's going to happen, and I bet Mob-kun's going to have something to do with it."

"So you were staring at him?"

Mezato blushed again. "Y-yeah."

The boy still didn't look up from his lunch. "I won't pry." He concluded, and that prompted Mezato to turn away from him and take out her own lunch.

She sighed. This is all Mob's fault.

* * *

It's the moment of truth.

Mezato waited anxiously in front of the Body Improvement Club's room. Mob would never skip club, and she wanted to make sure she did this before he went and confessed to Takane-san, or else the atmosphere would be shot. She had to do this picture-bribe thing now. She went through the trouble of taking it, she wasn't going to do nothing with it.

There wasn't much noise on the other side of the door. The club must be running outside. Mezato also knew that the now defunct Telepathy Club still 'secretly' functioned in the Body Improvement Club room. And Inugawa was in there. She made sure her silhouette didn't appear behind the club door.

"Mezato-san?"

Her heart jumped at the voice, but she calmed upon seeing who it was. She didn't even hear his footsteps, but Mob had approached her in the hallway. He was still wearing his normal school uniform.

"Oh," She placed a hand over her chest. "You, you didn't go to club?"

Mob looked very disheartened, and it was after that observation that Mezato realized what had happened. He seemed almost deflated, and his eyes looked like they were about to leak like punctured water balloons.

"No. I had to do something first…" He muttered, and Mezato felt her stomach drop after hearing his voice. She didn't want to admit it, but Mezato just did not see any other outcome happening. She didn't really know what to say next. She thought of giving him a hug, because he looked like he needed one, but she's pretty sure that she isn't the correct person for him to be receiving one from.

"Oh."

She ended up giving him one anyway.

"It's… it's okay." She uttered. She wasn't really sure what to say, and it was now that she realized that she didn't know much anything about him.

She could feel him shuddering, and she felt his arms go around her back. He's crying!?

He let himself go, and the tears began to flow (which Mezato was beginning to feel on the shoulder of her sleeve, but she let it slide). It was different seeing Mob express an emotion. It's like an explosion, his pent up frustration of whatever emotion he was feeling bursting out of his vessel. He's usually very neutral, but this is one of the few times she's seen him go through an emotional outburst like this. She couldn't think of anything else to say, so she let his silent sobs take over.

The two of them stood there for some ten seconds. Then, she felt her weight shift, and her camera fell out of her bag. Instinctively, Mezato pushed him away, which startled him, and helplessly attempted to catch her camera. "No!"

It pretty much exploded upon impact with the ground, which didn't make sense to her, and she fell to her knees, picking up the detached pieces.

"I'm sorry," She muttered. That camera had everything she needed in it. Then, she let out a short chuckle. "Heh, I guess that serves me right."

The pieces in her hand began to float away, and she turned to see Mob recreating her camera. His face and his tears gave off an abstract somber vibe, almost like he was sad for more than one obvious reason.

The camera was eventually made back to normal and Mob took it firmly in his hand, his tears still visible on his now blank face.

Mezato blinked and he offered the camera to her, the lens facing her. Suddenly his face reddened and he gasped.

"Eh!?"

The two of them seemed equally startled as she took the camera away from him. He turned away from her and covered his face. The picture she took last night was currently on the screen.

She turned red in embarrassment and also let out a startled reaction, then she turned away from him and covered her own face.

The clubroom door slid open, revealing the Telepathy Club.

Kurata bellowed. "Who the hell is making all this noise!?"

She stared dumbfounded at the two underclassmen covering their faces in front of her.

Inugawa squeezed in between Kurata and the doorframe. "Huh!? Mob!? Mezato-san!?"

Mezato tensed upon hearing Inugawa. She shook her head roughly. "No, it's not what it looks like!"

Kurata crossed her arms and leaned against the doorframe. "Hmph. I wondered why I always see you in the clubroom. I thought you were just harassing Mob-kun." Inugawa put his hands on his head in shock.

"Mob! I warned you!"

Mob still hadn't said a word.

Kurata grunted again. "So… what, did you try kissing? Is that what just happened?"

And finally Mob responded along with Mezato. "NO!"

Inugawa crashed against the doorframe in shock, a hand on his head.

* * *

Mob was crying again, though silently and with that blank facial expression. Mezato kind of felt bad that he had to explain what had just happened to him, but being around his friends made him calm down a little.

She had just come to the conclusion that she wasn't actually his friend, but one of many people that used him. This realization hurt her a little.

They were inside the clubroom now, and for the first time Mezato was seated with them on their table. The first thing she notices is that Saruta and Kijibayashi are a lot taller than Kurata and Inugawa.

"Man, Mob. You scared me. For a second I thought you and Mezato-san were actually onto something," Inugawa stated. "And I can't believe you actually confessed to the school idol! What are you, insane?"

Mezato flinched at that question, but Mob seemed to take it lightly. "Mob-kun, what was your plan? You just went up to her and confessed? You didn't do anything special? Does she even know you?" Kurata asked.

Mezato hurt at that, and she realized that she knew more about Mob's relation to Takane Tsubomi better than his own friends. It was also kind of sad that his attraction to Takane was taken lightly by his friends. Although she was guilty of that herself some times.

Kijibayashi, who Mezato had assumed was fast asleep, chimed into the conversation. "So what was happening outside?"

Mezato was about to say 'nothing', but Mob beat her to the question. "Mezato-san was waiting for me here for some reason. She comforted me while I was crying. She was nice enough to do that for me."

The news girl let out a breath. She was afraid Mob would absentmindedly mention the picture.

"So what was with the scene I saw when I opened the door?" Kurata asked.

Mezato turned red again. The two of them couldn't really answer that question honestly without mentioning the picture.

"We… can't explain that." Mezato says.

Kurata smirked, but decided not to press.

Inugawa didn't keep his own mouth shut, however. "Aw, come on, Mob, Mezato-san. I'm your friend, right? If there's something going on, you should just go and tell me."

Mezato was about to interject, but Mob beat her to it once again. "Inugawa, Mezato-san is my friend, like you. That's all there is to it."

The lazy boy tilted his head. "Whaaaat? Since when did you consider Mezato-san a friend of yours?"

Mezato raised an eyebrow. Just a second ago she had decided that she hasn't been treating Mob like a friend.

"Only until just now. I always felt that Mezato-san was kind of using me, but it turns out that she's been a friend this entire time. She just never had the chance to show it to me clearly," He smiles at her. "Thanks, Mezato-san."

Mezato looked down in embarrassment. She praised Mob all the time to try and get on his good side, but she never got the same from him back. Maybe, being actual friends with the esper boy wouldn't be such a bad idea.

Before Kurata could come up with a clever quip, the door burst open and the Body Improvement Club stormed in.

"Kageyama-kun!"

"Oi, Kageyama! How did it go!?"

The boy was suddenly swarmed by a small group of meatheads, which prompted Mezato to leave her seat.

"Kageyama-kun," She said. It was the first time she addressed him with his real name. The noise around the room stopped, and Mob gave her his attention. "See you tomorrow, then. And thanks for fixing my camera."

The group behind her watched dumbly as she left the room, her cheeks slightly pink.

Well, she could apologize for the photo later.

* * *

 _ **I don't know what brought me to write this, and I'm also shocked that this is the first of its kind.**_ _ **It's also my first time writing something focused on what may or may not be perceived romance, so bear with me.**_

 _ **Inugawa best boy (Reigen best girl)**_


End file.
